The R Project SVN R

% File src/library/base/man/split.Rd

% Part of the R package, http://www.R-project.org

% Copyright 1995-2012 R Core Team

% Distributed under GPL 2 or later

\name{split}

\title{Divide into Groups and Reassemble}

\alias{split}

\alias{split.default}

\alias{split.data.frame}

\alias{split<-}

\alias{split<-.default}

\alias{split<-.data.frame}

\alias{unsplit}

\description{

  \code{split} divides the data in the vector \code{x} into the groups

  defined by \code{f}.  The replacement forms replace values

  corresponding to such a division.  \code{unsplit} reverses the effect of

  \code{split}.

}

\usage{

split(x, f, drop = FALSE, ...)

split(x, f, drop = FALSE, ...) <- value

unsplit(value, f, drop = FALSE)

}

\arguments{

  \item{x}{vector or data frame containing values to be divided into groups.}

  \item{f}{a \sQuote{factor} in the sense that \code{\link{as.factor}(f)}

    defines the grouping, or a list of such factors in which case their

    interaction is used for the grouping.}

  \item{drop}{logical indicating if levels that do not occur should be dropped

    (if \code{f} is a \code{factor} or a list).}

  \item{value}{a list of vectors or data frames compatible with a

    splitting of \code{x}. Recycling applies if the lengths do not match.}

  \item{\dots}{further potential arguments passed to methods.}

}

\details{

  \code{split} and \code{split<-} are generic functions with default and

  \code{data.frame} methods.  The data frame method can also be used to

  split a matrix into a list of matrices, and the replacement form

  likewise, provided they are invoked explicitly.

  \code{unsplit} works with lists of vectors or data frames (assumed to

  have compatible structure, as if created by \code{split}). It puts

  elements or rows back in the positions given by \code{f}. In the data

  frame case, row names are obtained by unsplitting the row name

  vectors from the elements of \code{value}.

  \code{f} is recycled as necessary and if the length of \code{x} is not

  a multiple of the length of \code{f} a warning is printed.

  Any missing values in \code{f} are dropped together with the

  corresponding values of \code{x}.

  The default method calls \code{\link{interaction}}.  If the levels of

  the factors contain \samp{.} they may not be split as expected, so

  the method has argument \code{sep} which is use to join the levels.

}

\value{

  The value returned from \code{split} is a list of vectors containing

  the values for the groups.  The components of the list are named by

  the levels of \code{f} (after converting to a factor, or if already a

  factor and \code{drop = TRUE}, dropping unused levels).

  The replacement forms return their right hand side.  \code{unsplit}

  returns a vector or data frame for which \code{split(x, f)} equals

  \code{value}

}

\seealso{

  \code{\link{cut}} to categorize numeric values.

  \code{\link{strsplit}} to split strings.

}

\references{

  Becker, R. A., Chambers, J. M. and Wilks, A. R. (1988)

  \emph{The New S Language}.

  Wadsworth & Brooks/Cole.

}

\examples{

require(stats); require(graphics)

n <- 10; nn <- 100

g <- factor(round(n * runif(n * nn)))

x <- rnorm(n * nn) + sqrt(as.numeric(g))

xg <- split(x, g)

boxplot(xg, col = "lavender", notch = TRUE, varwidth = TRUE)

sapply(xg, length)

sapply(xg, mean)

### Calculate 'z-scores' by group (standardize to mean zero, variance one)

z <- unsplit(lapply(split(x, g), scale), g)

# or

zz <- x

split(zz, g) <- lapply(split(x, g), scale)

# and check that the within-group std dev is indeed one

tapply(z, g, sd)

tapply(zz, g, sd)

### data frame variation

## Notice that assignment form is not used since a variable is being added

g <- airquality$Month

l <- split(airquality, g)

l <- lapply(l, transform, Oz.Z = scale(Ozone))

aq2 <- unsplit(l, g)

head(aq2)

with(aq2, tapply(Oz.Z,  Month, sd, na.rm = TRUE))

### Split a matrix into a list by columns

ma <- cbind(x = 1:10, y = (-4:5)^2)

split(ma, col(ma))

split(1:10, 1:2)

}

\keyword{category}